Tag Archives: 4×5

This post wouldn’t be possible without my good friend, Maurice Greeson. Last winter, I was talking to Maurice about what an interesting camera I thought the Super Speed Graphic was. How you rotate the lens clockwise to cock the shutter, and the built-in electric shutter. Sure enough, Maurice had one and loaned it to me. He even loaded up two film holders for me to try. The camera sat in my office for several months because nothing outside in the winter landscape inspired me. A few weeks ago, I met up with Scott Smith at the Great Salt Lake Shorelands Preserve in Layton, Utah. Scott is deciding whether he should get into large format photography, and he’s been kicking the tires on a Graflex before he buys it, on loan from Maurice.

Super Speed Graphic (1961 -1970)

The Super Speed Graphic was manufactured by Graflex in Rochester, New York, from 1961 -1970. The Super Graphic (1958 – 1973) and Super Speed Graphic would be the very last large format cameras that Graflex would make. These two models are nearly identical. The Super Speed Graphic features a 135mm, 1/1000th Sec Graflex Optar lens. To cock the shutter, the chrome lens hood is twisted clockwise. Using two 22.5 volt flat batteries, the shutter can be triggered by pressing a red button on the left-side of camera above the hand strap. This causes the solenoid built into the Super Graphic lensboard to trip the mechanical shutter. However, the built-in solenoid will only trigger the shutter and will not sync with the flash. A shutter release cable can also be used, connected directly to the lens. I found it very difficult to connect a release cable because there’s no room between the lens and the lensboard for you to twist on/off the cable. On top of the camera is an automatic focusing scale with a flash exposure calculator. The front standard of the camera has the movement features you’d expect to have: rise, tilt and swing. The camera itself is made from cast metal, unlike older Graflex cameras made from wood and metal. Surprisingly, this camera is heavy, 5.29 lbs. I’m comparing this to my Crown Graphic Pacemaker at 4.8 lbs. Overall, not my favorite camera, but I’m grateful to Maurice for letting me try it out. I’m very happy with the photos. All of them were shot at f/16, 1/60th sec.

You know the saying, “the first drug is always free?” That’s how my friend Maurice convinced me to experiment with large format. Late last year, he asked me if I would be interested in trying one of his Graflex cameras. He even sweetened the deal by loading some Arista 4×5 film into the film holders, and volunteered to develop them. On a Saturday morning, he gave me hands-on lesson and answered all my questions.

Maurice & Shaun – Photo by Charles Trentelman

The Pacemaker Crown Graphic was manufactured from 1947 to 1973 by Graflex Inc. Made of mahogany wood and metal, the Pacemaker has a side-mounted rangefinder focus, but does not have a focal plane shutter like nearly identical Pacemaker Speed Graphic. To give the camera access to a variety of wide-angle lenses, and to reduce the overall weight, it was made without a focal plane shutter. My Pacemaker was manufactured in 1955 and features a lens board with a 135mm Graflex Optar lens, f/4.7 – 32, and shutter speeds 1/400 – 1 sec.

Photographers often describe their satisfaction of shooting film as: it allows me to slow down. Using a large format camera, like a Graflex, takes that same notion and multiplies it. Everything from setting the camera up to the final click of the shutter is a deliberate, leisurely, and enjoyable process.

After shooting the film that Maurice had loaded, I returned the camera and film holders to him. He told me that he was likely going to sell the Pacemaker and offered it to me. A few days later, I returned and bought the camera from him. Maurice also threw in the book, Graphic Graflex Photography: The Master Book for the Larger Camera (1943), 8 film holders, and a Polaroid 100-series Packfilm holder. Adding to my new large format arsenal, I bought the SP-445 Compact 4×5 Film Processing System, along with New55 Atomic-X and Kodak T-Max film. For me, developing black and white 4×5 sheets are easier than 35 or 120. And it’s exciting to see a large 4×5 negative with so much detail. Compared to a digital camera sensor, a single sheet of 4×5 film provides more “data” than you can possibly imagine. Learning with some additional practice, I plan to create more 4×5 images with better composition and depth of field. However, I am happy with my first attempt with large format photography.